Tigers in Mangrove Forest Face Climate Change Threat
A vast mangrove forest shared by India and Bangladesh that is home to possibly 500 Bengal tigers is being rapidly destroyed by erosion, rising sea levels and storm surges, according to a major study by researchers at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and others.… Read More
Climate Change a Bigger Extinction Threat than Asteroids
As teaching moments go, it doesn’t get much better than this. NASA scientists have known for nearly a year that a small asteroid called 2012 DA14, about 150 ft. across, would whiz past Earth at the nail-biting distance of 17,000 miles or so — significantly closer than the 22,500-mile altitude occupied by geosynchronous satellites. It happened right… Read More
Thinning Ice Is Turning Arctic into an Algae Hotspot
Shrinking, thinning Arctic sea ice appears to be accelerating the growth of algae in polar waters, a new study finds, a development that could alter the region’s ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Scientists cruising central Arctic waters last summer aboard the research ship Polarstern were stunned to discover dense, shaggy deposits of… Read More
New Weather Instrument To Hitch a Ride on Space Station
Rather than building an entirely new, autonomous satellite, which could cost up to $1 billion or more, the agency is planning to attach the refurbished instrument to the International Space Station (ISS). Once it is safely attached, the instrument will not require any interaction with the Space Station crew, NASA said in a press release.… Read More
NWS Confirms Sandy Was Not a Hurricane At Landfall
In a technical report released on Tuesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reaffirmed its initial conclusion that Hurricane Sandy was no longer officially a hurricane when it made landfall on Oct. 29 near Brigantine, N.J., just north of Atlantic City. Instead, it was a “post-tropical cyclone” packing hurricane-force winds… Read More
East Coast Faces Rising Seas From Slowing Gulf Stream
Experts on the sea level rise triggered by climate change have long known that it will proceed faster in some places than others. The mid-Atlantic coast of the U.S. is one of them, and the reason — in theory, anyway — is that global warming should slow the flow of the Gulf Stream as it moves north and then west toward northern Europe.… Read More
Blizzard Buries New England, Breaks Snowfall Records
The storm shut down travel across the region, knocked out power to nearly 700,000 customers, stranded many motorists in their vehicles on Long Island, and exceeded benchmarks set during the infamous Blizzard of 1978, which occurred 35 years ago this week.… Read More
What You Need to See to Understand Blizzard ‘Nemo’
The blizzard is also pulling in an extraordinary amount of moisture, which is consistent with recent trends in the Northeast toward more frequent 1-day precipitation extremes during the cold season, including heavy snowstorms. … Read More
